Automatic paper sheet alignment plate positioning device for use in paper sheet discharge sections of business machines and the like

ABSTRACT

An automatic paper sheet alignment plate positioning device for use in paper sheet discharge sections of business machines and the like in which when an end plate and/or sideplates for alignment of the side edges of paper sheets stacked in the paper sheet feed section are positioned according to the size of the sheets, the similar sheet alignment end and/or sideplates in the paper sheet discharge section are automatically positioned in response to the positions of the end and/or sideplates in the feed section.

United States Patent (72] Inventor Satoehi Kinda Yokohama-slit. Japan [2|] Appl. No. 877,712

[22) Filed Nov. [8, 1969 [4S] Patented July l3, I971 (73] Assignee Kabushlki Knish: Ricoh y" I I- [32} Priority Nov. 22, I968 [33] Japan I 54] AUTOMATIC PAPER SHEET ALIGNMENT PLATE POSITIONING DEVICE FOR USE IN PAPER SHEET DISCHARGE SECTIONS OF BUSINESS MACHINES AND THE um:

I cum. 2 Drawing Figs.

52 us.c| .7 271/86, 21 l/6l [5|] lnt.Cl.,,. ...,.,m.....,B65h3l/20 [50] Field otSearch a. Til/86,61, 3 88 56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,398,315 4/1946 Little a. 271/86 X Primary Examiner-Joseph Wegbreit Attorney-Burgess, Ryan and Hicks ABSTRACT: An automatic paper sheet alignment plate positioning device for use in paper sheet discharge sections of business machines and the like in which when an end plate and/or sideplates for alignment of the side edges of paper sheets stacked in the paper sheet feed section are positioned according to the size of the sheets, the similar sheet alignment end and/or sideplates in the paper sheet discharge section are automatically positioned in response to the positions of the end and/or sideplates in the feed section.

AUTOMATIC PAPER SHEET ALIGNMENT PLATE POSITIONING DEVICE FOR USE IN PAPER SHEET DISCHARGE SECTIONS OF BUSINESS MACHINES AND THE LIKE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a business machine and the like and more particularly to an automatic paper sheet alignment plate positioning device for use in paper sheet discharge sections of business machines and the like.

In the business machines and the like in which the paper sheets are used for printing, copying, punching and so on, a stack of paper sheets is placed upon a paper sheet feed stand and the sheets which underwent printing, copying, punching. etc. in the processing section are discharged into and stocked in the paper sheet discharge section, In order to align the end and/or side edges of the sheets discharged in the discharge stand, the end and/or sideplates for alignment of the side edges of the sheets are manually positioned in accordance with the sizes of the sheets used. In this case, prior to the operation of a business machine or the like, one paper sheet to be used must be placed upon the feed and discharge stands in order to detennine the positions of the paper sheet alignment end and/or sideplates respectively. This operation will take generally a long time and is troublesome.

Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is toprovide an automatic paper sheet alignment plate positioning device for use in paper sheet discharge sections of business machines and the like in which the paper sheet alignment end and/sideplates (to be referred to as plate" hereinafter) in the paper sheet discharge section may be automatically located at the positions corresponding to the sizes of the sheets to be used when the plate in the paper sheet feed section is set in position depending upon the size of the sheets, thereby eliminating the cumbersome operation of setting the plate in the paper sheet discharge section.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The device of the present invention comprises a motor for driving a plate in the discharge section, changeover switches located at both of the ends of the travel stroke of the plate and adapted to be actuated by the plate, a relay contact circuit adapted to be actuated by the actuation of said changeover switches so as to reverse the rotation of the motor, and two groups of paper sheet feed and discharge plate positioning switches, one of each of said switch groups being actuated in response to the position of the plate and said two groups of switches being connected in parallel with each other in a circuit for driving said motor.

When the plate in the feed section is set in position depending upon the size of paper sheets to be used and when the motor driving circuit is connected to a power source, the plate in the discharge section is caused to move in one direction depending upon its initial position and then return when the plate reaches at its one end of its travel stroke. When the plate is returned to a position corresponding to the position of the plate set in the feed section, the motor driving circuit is opened, the motor is stopped and the plate in the discharge section is stopped at said position. When the plate in the discharge section is initially located at the position corresponding to the position of the plate set in the feed section, the plate in the discharge section remains unchanged even when the motor drive circuit is closed. The starting and stopping of the plate in the discharge section are controlled by the coaction of said relay circuit and said two groups of positioning switches.

In accordance with the present invention, the paper sheet alignment end and/or sideplates in the paper sheet discharge section may be automatically set in position only by setting manually in position the end and/or sideplates in the feed section depending upon the size of the sheet to be used. Therefore, the cumbersome setting of the business machine or the like prior to the operation thereof may be eliminated and the efficiency of the business machine and the like may be remarkably improved.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of one illustrative embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a schematic view illustrating a business machine embodying the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral I designates an end plate in a paper sheet feed section; 2, an end plate in a paper sheet discharge section; and 3, 4 and 5, normally closed microswitches which are positioned in accordance with the sizes of paper stacked in the feed section and adapted to be actuated when the end plate 1 is moved to the positions of the microswitches. In the paper sheet discharge section, there are positioned microswitches 6, 7 and 8 similar and corresponding to those in the feed section and in accordance with the sizes of the paper in the passage of the end plate 2. These switches 6, 7 and 8 are closed when the end plate 2 contacts with them. Microswitches 9 and I0 are connected in a relay circuit for controlling a DC motor II which drives the end plate 2. The microswitch 9 is normally opened while the microswitch l0, normally closed. The end plate 2 is slidably mounted upon the paper discharge stand 12 and the lower end 20 of the end plate 2 is fixedly secured to a chain 16 wrapped over rollers 13, 14 and 15 one of which, for example, the roller I3 is driven by the DC motor II.

The microswitches 3,4,5,6,7 and 8 are end plate positioning switches in the circuit shown in FIG. 2 while the microswitches 9 and 10, the switches for reversing the direction of rotation of the DC motor II. In FIG. 2, reference numeral I7 designates a relay for retaining the reversed rotation of the motor II; 18, a normally opened contact for the relay I7; I9 and 20, normally closed contact for the relay 17 in a motor control L; and 21 and 22, normally opened contacts. The microswitches 3, 4 and 5 are connected in parallel with the microswitches 6, 7 and 8.

Next the mode of operation of the device of the present invention will be described. The end plate 2 is positioned to the right in FIG. 1 and the voltage is applied to the terminals A and An from a power source so that the DC motor II is rotated in the forward direction, thereby moving the end plate 2 to the left, that is in the direction indicated by the arrow 0 in FIG. I. When the end plate 2 reaches its leftmost position, the lower end 20 actuates the microswitch 9 so that the microswitch 9 is closed, thereby energizing the relay 17 so as to close the normally opened contact 18. Therefore, the relay 17 remains in this position. Simultaneously, the normally closed contacts 19 and 20 of the relay [7 are opened while the normally opened contacts 21 and 22 are closed so that the DC motor I] is connected to the motor control unit L in the reversed direction, whereby the motor I] is reversed in rotation. Therefore, the end plate 2 is caused to move in the direction indicated by the arrow b in FIG. 1, that is to the right. When the end plate 2 reaches its rightmost position, that is the initial position the microswitch 10 is opened so that the relay 17 is deenergized and released from its self-holding state. Simultaneously, the normally closed contacts 19 and 20 which have been opened are closed while the normally opened contacts 2! and 22 which have been closed are opened. Therefore, the DC motor is connected to the motor control L in the forward direction so that the motor I] rotates in the forward direction. Thus, it is seen that the end plate 2 is caused to reciprocate in the directions indicated by the arrows a and 1) between the microswitches 9 and 10.

The sheets 23 are stacked upon a feed stand 27 and the slidable end plate 1 is abutted against the rear side edges ofthc sheets 23 so that the microswitch corresponding to the size of these sheets 23 is actuated by the lower end In of the end plate For example, let it be assumed that the microswitch 3 is actuated and opened in FIG 1. Therefore the microswitch 6 corresponding to the microswitch 3 is actuated by the lower end In of the end plate 2 that is reciprocating and is opened so that the motor H is stopped, thereby stopping the end plate 2 at the position of the microswitch 6. That is, since the microswitch 6 is located at the position corresponding to the size of the sheets 23, the end plate 2 is automatically positioned at the position corresponding to the size of the sheets 23 The sheets 23 are fed into a processing device from the uppermost sheet by means ofa feed roller 24 and after the sheet has been processed with printing, copying, punching, etc, it is stacked one by one upon the stand 12 in the discharge section through a pair of discharge rollers 26 with the edges of the stacked sheets being correctly aligned with each other.

So far the present invention has been described with the ll' lustrative embodiment thereof in which only the end plate is automatically positioned according to the size of the sheets but it is understood that the present invention may he applied to the automatic positioning of the sideplates in the similar manner It is also understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described herein-above with reference to the accompanying drawing, but variations and modifications can be effected without departing from the true spirit of the present invention as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

I An automatic sheet alignment plate positioning device tor use in the paper sheet discharge sections of business machines and the like comprising a motor for driving a sheet alignment plate in the paper sheet discharge section,

changeover switches positioned at both of the stroke ends of said alignment plate,

a relay contact circuit for reversing the rotations of said motor,

a group of paper sheet alignment plate positioning switches in the paper sheet feed section which are spaced apart from each other and one of which is actuated depending upon he position of said paper sheet alignment plate and a gtfmp of paper sheet alignment plate positioning switches in said paper sheet discharge section which are spaced apart from each other between said changeover switches and one of which is actuated when said paper sheet alignment plate in said paper sheet discharge section is moved to a position corresponding to the position of said paper sheet alignment plate in said paper sheet feed section, said first and second groups of positioning switches being connected in parallel to each other in a motor driving circuitr 

1. An automatic sheet alignment plate positioning device for use in the paper sheet discharge sections of business machines and the like comprising a motor for driving a sheet alignment plate in the paper sheet discharge section, changeover switches positioned at both of the stroke ends of said alignment plate, a relay contact circuit for reversing the rotations of said motor, a group of paper sheet alignment plate positioning switches in the paper sheet feed section which are spaced apart from each other and one of which is actuated depending upon the position of said paper sheet alignment plate, and a group of paper sheet alignment plate positioning switches in said paper sheet discharge section which are spaced apart from each other between said changeover switches and one of which is actuated when said paper sheet alignment plate in said paper sheet discharge section is moved to a position corresponding to the position of said paper sheet alignment plate in said paper sheet feed section, said first and second groups of positioning switches being connected in parallel to each other in a motor driving circuit. 